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Posted On

01
December
2021

Ex-head of Naftogaz fears lack of capacity for Ukraine's gas imports from EU in 2022

KYIV. Dec 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine might face significant difficulties in importing gas from the European Union in 2022 due to a reduction in capacity and diversification of routes, ex-head of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy Andriy Kobolev believes.

"If sanctions or some kind of international diplomacy are not applied, they (Russia) will try to launch Nord Stream 2 in 2022. This will mean restarting gas flows in Europe, and this will further complicate our ability to import gas from the EU, which will potentially put us back in a situation of dependence on gas supplies from Russia," he said during the Kyiv Security Forum.

Kobolev recalled the lost opportunity to import gas from Hungary through backhaul after Gazprom had refused to transit gas to this country through Ukraine from October 1, despite the fully paid capacity for such transit. This became possible due to the launch of the Turkish Stream and its Serbian continuation.

In turn, the launch of NS2 will lead to a drop in gas transit in the direction of Slovakia, through which Ukraine can import the largest volumes of gas from the EU.

All these factors will significantly complicate the import and injection of natural gas into Ukrainian UGS facilities in preparation for the next heating season of 2022/2023. At the same time, Ukraine will most likely come out of the current heating season with the most emptied storage facilities.

According to Kobolev, the additional physical connection of the Ukrainian and Polish gas pipelines will also affect the decrease in the ability of Ukraine to import from Slovakia.

The ex-head of Naftogaz also expressed concern that in the event of an urgent need in gas in February 2022, the same physical shortage of the resource could be in Europe, so the incumbent management of the company should take care of contracting the required volumes in advance.